I propose to continue our analysis of the regulation of gene activity in Dictyostelium. Specifically, my lab will continue our studies on the structure and functional organization of the multi-gene family encoding actin and transcribed short, interspersed repeat sequences localized at the 5' end of populations of low abundance mRNA using recombinant DNA technology. Questions concerning the sequence organization of the genes and associated sequences, the relation of these sequences to possible control mechanism, sequence requirements for the initiation of transcription and translation, nuclear RNA precursors and processing, and the analysis of the developmental regulation of these genes during the Dictyostelium life cycle will be approached. This analysis will be taken with the goal to help elucidate some of the control mechanisms involved in differential gene regulation during development.